Reading Football Club are delighted to announce the launch of the Royals Rewards loyalty scheme at 9am on Thursday 27th July.

What is Royals Rewards?Royals Rewards is a brand new scheme designed to reward the Royals’ most loyal fans – our Season Ticket holders. Exclusive to fans who have committed to backing Jaap Stam’s men in 2017/18, the programme will give fans the opportunity to accrue Royals Rewards points by taking part in a variety of actions – both at Madejski Stadium and on non-macthdays.

The points saved up can then be redeemed on a whole host of exciting products and experiences courtesy of Reading Football Club and its partners.

It is important to say in the first instance that Royals Rewards points will not be replacing Royalty Points for ticket purchases. These will now be called Ticketing Points and will continue to accrue with ticket purchases supplementary to your Season Ticket. The newly named Ticketing Points will continue to be used to determine ticket priority for high demand fixtures moving forward, and supporters will not see their total altered as a result of Royals Rewards.

Getting Started To get started, supporters should head to their individual portal, which can be accessed by visiting rewards.readingfcdirect.co.uk and logging in using your account details for Reading FC Direct. As well as being available via your desktop computer your portal is also mobile compatible, meaning you can stay part of the action whilst on the move!

How do I earn points?As soon as you have logged into your Royals Rewards portal, you will be able to see how many Royals Rewards points you have accrued in the top dialog box. At the beginning of the 2017/18 season, supporters in the following categories will receive a welcome bonus:

Throughout the season you will be able to accrue further points by completing a series of actions on a Reading FC home matchday, with the club looking to add to the list in the coming months. Full details of how you can earn points are as follows:

2017/18 Home Matchday Rewards

Attend a home game 20 Per match Early attendance bonus 20 Per match Enter 60+ minutes prior to kick-off Goal bonus 10 Per Royals goal Supporter must be in attendanceWin bonus 20 Per match won Supporter must be in attendance'Guess the player' quiz 20 Per match Watch the Video Screen quiz and enter on your portal2017/18 Spend Rewards

Away ticket purchased 20 Per match Must be bought in advance with Reading FCMerchandise spend 1 Per £1 1 point for every pound spent in the Megastore or online at Reading FC DirectStadium Tour 50 Once only The Football Club are also delighted to reveal that all eligible supporters who sat in the East Stand in 2016/17 will receive a bonus 250 points as their prize for the Stand & Deliver half time competition! Points will be credited to each supporter ahead of the new season.

How do I redeem Royals Rewards points?Throughout the season you will have the opportunity to redeem your points on a variety of Rewards courtesy of the Royals and its partners. Each of these Rewards will fit into one of three categories:

Buy NowThis gives supporters the opportunity to physically redeem their points in exchange for products. Once redeemed, you will receive a voucher via email that can be exchanged at the Megastore for the item you have selected.

Example: if Andries attends the first four home games of the season, enters the stadium over 60 minutes before kick-off, and the Royals win two out of the four matches – he will have saved up 200 points, which is enough for him to redeem a voucher entitling him to a free programme from one of the matches!

AuctionUse your points to bid on exciting items and experiences with the Royals. The auctions will begin with a starting price, and will rise at set increments until the end of the allotted time. Once completed, the supporter with the highest bid will receive the Reward in exchange for their points. All unsuccessful bidders will not see their points total reduce.

Example: Brian has had his heart set on visiting Hogwood Park Training Ground for years, but as yet hasn’t had the chance to. He has decided to save up as many points as possible by completing a series of matchday actions, his particular favourite being ‘Guess the Player’ via the Madejski Stadium Video Screen. He’s hoping that by earning these points, he will be able to submit a bid high enough to realise his dream of seeing the lads train. He’s going to bid high, because he knows if he doesn’t win the auction he will get to keep hold of his Royals Rewards points.

Prize DrawUse your Royals Rewards points for an upcoming prize draw. On the reward you will see a countdown until the draw takes place, at which point the winner will be picked at random from all the tickets purchased. The more tickets you have, the more chance you have of winning the Reward. Be careful however, because once you have redeemed a ticket your points are non-refundable.

Example: Said has seen on his portal that he can redeem his Royals Rewards points to be in with a chance of winning a pair of match-worn boots from one of his Royals heroes – he reckons the lads at five-a-side will be jealous. Said can get as many tickets for the prize draw as his Royals Rewards points total will allow, but he has to be careful, because points used in the Prize Draws will not be returned to Said regardless of whether he wins the draw or not.

Full FAQs and T&Cs of the Royals Rewards loyalty scheme can be found on your portal via the top navigation bar.

I think it is a great idea! I like the idea of keeping the ticketing points separate and it certainly adds to the benefits of being a STH. You now have priority for tickets and this. Even as a non-STH, I can see why the club are doing it....and good on them!"

Buy NowThis gives supporters the opportunity to physically redeem their points in exchange for products. Once redeemed, you will receive a voucher via email that can be exchanged at the Megastore for the item you have selected.

Example: if Andries attends the first four home games of the season, enters the stadium over 60 minutes before kick-off, and the Royals win two out of the four matches – he will have saved up 200 points, which is enough for him to redeem a voucher entitling him to a free programme from one of the matches!

Why would Andries get any points, usually employees of a company are excluded from these sorts of things - or perhaps it's all so different for footballers and management? More mysterious is why he'd want a programme in the first place.

Prize DrawUse your Royals Rewards points for an upcoming prize draw. On the reward you will see a countdown until the draw takes place, at which point the winner will be picked at random from all the tickets purchased. The more tickets you have, the more chance you have of winning the Reward. Be careful however, because once you have redeemed a ticket your points are non-refundable.

Example: Said has seen on his portal that he can redeem his Royals Rewards points to be in with a chance of winning a pair of match-worn boots from one of his Royals heroes – he reckons the lads at five-a-side will be jealous. Said can get as many tickets for the prize draw as his Royals Rewards points total will allow, but he has to be careful, because points used in the Prize Draws will not be returned to Said regardless of whether he wins the draw or not.

Poor old Said, you'd think he'd just nick a pair of boots out the boot room after a training session when no-one's looking.

AuctionUse your points to bid on exciting items and experiences with the Royals. The auctions will begin with a starting price, and will rise at set increments until the end of the allotted time. Once completed, the supporter with the highest bid will receive the Reward in exchange for their points. All unsuccessful bidders will not see their points total reduce.

Example: Brian has had his heart set on visiting Hogwood Park Training Ground for years, but as yet hasn’t had the chance to. He has decided to save up as many points as possible by completing a series of matchday actions, his particular favourite being ‘Guess the Player’ via the Madejski Stadium Video Screen. He’s hoping that by earning these points, he will be able to submit a bid high enough to realise his dream of seeing the lads train. He’s going to bid high, because he knows if he doesn’t win the auction he will get to keep hold of his Royals Rewards points.

You'd think yourDirector of Football would be allowed along to the training ground wouldn't you.

A bit confusing when trying to register my card this morning. It tells you to log is using your member ID and password. Then it says go to 'E-Cash' on the top menu bar to activate your card. There is no 'E-Cash' on the top menu bar.

When you click on 'Account' on the top menu bar - you can then see it says the card is 'active' over to the right hand side..

So the part in the instructions about clicking on E-Cash to activate the card is nonsense.

Wonder if the entrance to the Jazz form inside the East stand will be/is open 60 minutes prior to kick off? if it is will be able to bank the 20 early attendance points without having to sit through the pre-game nonsense

Will the buses the club are putting on get Andreas to the ground 60 minutes before kick off?..... I hope he has a good book to read as there's feck all to do for 60 minutes once he's inside the ground, you can't even get a reliable mobile signal to go online.

CountCowchula Wonder if the entrance to the Jazz form inside the East stand will be/is open 60 minutes prior to kick off? if it is will be able to bank the 20 early attendance points without having to sit through the pre-game nonsense

Presumably you get credited for early attendance when you swipe in at the turnstiles so unless they've installed turnstiles at the Jazz Club entrance I can't see that counting.

Forbury Lion Will the buses the club are putting on get Andreas to the ground 60 minutes before kick off?..... I hope he has a good book to read as there's feck all to do for 60 minutes once he's inside the ground, you can't even get a reliable mobile signal to go online.

This is a really good point actually, and one that our good friends at Brighton seem to have got very right with free WiFi. Very useful when I got dayn there over an hour early last season and could trawl nonsense whilst chinning pints

CountCowchula Wonder if the entrance to the Jazz form inside the East stand will be/is open 60 minutes prior to kick off? if it is will be able to bank the 20 early attendance points without having to sit through the pre-game nonsense

Presumably you get credited for early attendance when you swipe in at the turnstiles so unless they've installed turnstiles at the Jazz Club entrance I can't see that counting.

Yeah but the Jazz has a entrance directly into the east stand which is open at h/t and sometimes after the game. If this is open before the game you could go through the turnstiles and then go through that entrance up to the Jazz